The suit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, alleges that the owner and the manager of Chaumont Villas refused to make repairs to apartments, prohibited Jewish children from playing in public areas and harassed Jewish families because of their faith.

The complex manager called the lawsuit baseless.

Terry M. Mousa, one of the plaintiffs, said he, his wife and three children lived for three years in their $1,450-a.m.onth, 3-bedroom unit with no problems. A new manager arrived a year ago and began referring to Jewish tenants with profanity and routinely harassing Jewish children, he said.

Mousa circulated a petition in June seeking a new manager and asking for repairs to units. Mousa was later evicted.

Pat Mitchell, a vice president for property management firm Swami International, one of the defendants, said Mousa was evicted for causing friction between Jewish tenants and the apartment manager.

"This is nothing more than a landlord-tenant dispute," Mitchell said. Mousa "has been harassing the manager and not allowing her to do her job. ... We can't have somebody creating a hostile environment."

If the allegations are true, then yes, it is religious discrimination. However, I don't believe there is enough information to determine if the allegations are true. Was Mousa's family the only Jewish tennent evicted? Were the six other families also evicted? Was everybody in the complex affected by non-repairs, not just Jewish families? What are the rules for children in public areas? In my complex there are certain common areas where children are not allowed to play. IMO, it boils down to not having enough information to make an informed decision.

The suit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, alleges that the owner and the manager of Chaumont Villas refused to make repairs to apartments, prohibited Muslim children from playing in public areas and harassed Muslim families because of their faith.

The complex manager called the lawsuit baseless.

Tawfiq M. Mousa, one of the plaintiffs, said he, his wife and three children lived for three years in their $1,450-a.m.onth, 3-bedroom unit with no problems. A new manager arrived a year ago and began referring to Muslim tenants with profanity and routinely harassing Muslim children, he said.

Mousa circulated a petition in June seeking a new manager and asking for repairs to units. Mousa was later evicted.

Pat Mitchell, a vice president for property management firm Swami International, one of the defendants, said Mousa was evicted for causing friction between Muslim tenants and the apartment manager.

"This is nothing more than a landlord-tenant dispute," Mitchell said. Mousa "has been harassing the manager and not allowing her to do her job. ... We can't have somebody creating a hostile environment."

Now that you've seen the actual story, does it change your viewpoint at all?

Not really. Still a case of he said/she said. More evidence is still need to corroborate the claims of the defendant and justification for eviction. Jews, Muslims, Blacks, Chinese, Italians, Rednecks ... the group doesn't really matter.

I still say the same thing. If the allegations are true, it is religious discrimination. I still need more info, though. Given the general tension in our country over the Islamic faith, I am more inclined to believe some sort of discrimination occurred.

In the United States discrimination laws tend to lean toward the person who feels discriminated against. If they can prove that this person said anything about Jews, he will be considered guilty. If they can prove that he treated these tenants differently than anyone who was in a similiar circumstance, but not Jewish, he will be considered guilty. For instance, even if he was a horrible tenant, if he was not treated the same way as another horrible tenant, he has a case.

SEC. 201. (a) All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, and privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.

(b) Each of the following establishments which serves the public is a place of public accommodation within the meaning of this title if its operations affect commerce, or if discrimination or segregation by it is supported by State action:

(1) any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests, other than an establishment located within a building which contains not more than five rooms for rent or hire and which is actually occupied by the proprietor of such establishment as his residence;
...
SEC. 203. No person shall (a) withhold, deny, or attempt to withhold or deny, or deprive or attempt to deprive, any person of any right or privilege secured by section 201 or 202, or (b) intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person with the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege secured by section 201 or 202, or (c) punish or attempt to punish any person for exercising or attempting to exercise any right or privilege secured by section 201 or 202.
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Originally posted by TexasSky: BTW - Are we doing someone's homework for them or is this just a general question to the board?

Click to expand...

This is just a general question. The apartment complex in question is very near where I work. I pass it frequently. In fact, it's one of the apartments I looked at before I bought my house (I chose a complex that was only 2 blocks from work). It's an average apartment complex that I wouldn't have a problem living in, or recommending if someone said "anyone know of a good amartment to rent?".

Well, the way this came to be a post was that a person at work (I'll call her Tracy), who lives in a nearby apartment (belonging to a different management company), heard about this before it made the news. But in talking about it at work, Tracy mistakenly said it was some Jewish families who were facing discrimination. A few days later (still before this story was printed), Tracy corrected herself and said it was Muslim families. BTW, I asked her if their religion was obvious in their dress. She said no, they dressed like anyone else would. The woman didn't wear headscarves and the children didn't look any different than any other children. I must acknowlege that any time I've driven past there, I could never see any visible difference among any of the residents.

At work, most people agreed: It didn't matter what religion they were. Presuming the info is correct, discrimination is wrong. But one person completely changed his tune when he found out they were Muslims instead of Jews. Now, this guy is a complete certifiable card-carrying owner of white sheets in the closet. He doesn't like anyone: Pureto Ricans, Catholics, Fundamentalist, Muslims, etc. In fact, when he thought it was a Jewish family, he commented "they should just hook up with a Jew banker, buy the complex and fire the manager".